By Tess Reidy
Three boys, aged seven, ten and twelve, two years spent in foster care and a twenty-minute court case returning them home. The hearing today takes place in a cramped room with the mother and her lawyers sitting around a large table opposite legal representatives from the local authority. The judge is smiling, and the mood is positive. The mother, whose children were removed by the local authority in 2023 after poor mental health during COVID, is at last getting them returned. They were supposed to go home in that same year, but they were kept in foster care, according to the mother, for an additional year and a half.
In the background to this, many questions remain unanswered. Not least, how someone who is employed as a nursery assistant taking care of other parents’ children could be deemed unsuitable to care for her own children. The mother in the past has questioned how it can be that someone who meets every standard for being able to provide care for young children and in no way likely to cause them harm, has been denied living with her own three children. No one has been able to tell her why. She says they just wanted to come home.
She has also questioned the message it sends to mothers that if you are struggling with mental health and engage with social services or ask for their help that they may see fit to remove your children indefinitely.
The mother may never get satisfactory answers to these questions, and indeed, the purpose of today is not to rake over the past. The emphasis instead is on the considerable work undertaken by the mother. All the professionals agree she should have the boys. The judge praises the progress the mother has made and says she is working incredibly hard to address the mental health issue that plagued her at that time. They also noted the immense work she has undertaken, which has led to her getting them returned.
According to the local authority excessive alcohol consumption was taking place, and a plan for hair strand testing is set to take place for six months. Blood tests are also required. The mother disputes this and says GP records suggest she was a moderate drinker as opposed to a hazardous drinker. The mother’s GP and community health team will also provide a mental health update.
Meanwhile, the father plays no active role in the boys’ lives or the past care proceedings. No one knows where he is living. Nevertheless, attempts should be made via the Department for Work and Pensions to locate him and serve notice of the proceedings.
For now, the timescales of the return are not set. The local authority will work together with the mother on a plan, and the social worker will visit the children later that day. The reunification proposals will be made based on the individual children as well as a sibling group.
A long time has passed, and questions may yet be left unanswered. But today, almost two years after the initial care order was made, there are smiles, the mood is upbeat, and the focus is on one thing: three children going home to their mother.
Published on 28th May 2025
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